Sorry

It was Sorry Day on Wednesday – the day in Australia we remember the sorry business that was the forcible removal of Indigenous children over many generations. We had a festival here in Perth to mark the moment.

Despite its roots being in sadness, it was a wonderful day – beaut music, some storytelling and speeches by some Nyungar elders, a smoking ceremony, and lots of activities for school kids to join in on too. There was a fantastic turn out of schools, which was a real positive of the day – a young generation that is hearing lots of honest talk about some of Australia’s darker history, learning some Indigenous culture – both old and new, and sharing ideas about walking along together and healing hurts from the past. I was struck by the gentleness of many of the people who spoke, people who have felt much pain in the past, but who show an enormous capacity for forgiveness and wisdom.

I was reminded though, that for many Indigenous people in Australia, life continues to be a struggle for all sorts of reasons, and that the ongoing feeling of being shafted, of being treated second best, is still ever-present for many. There is still a long road ahead, and days like Wednesday can be an enormous force for good. These public occasions have their limits though. The everyday actions and words exchanged between us and our neighbours, and whether government policy can be genuinely fair, will determine how well we can walk along together as a society too.

A while ago, I visited a friend in Alice Springs who has a close up view of life in a number of Northern Territory communities, and what impacts the 2008 Federal Government ‘Intervention’ has had on the life of people it was designed to help – from where she sits and especially for many of the Indigenous ladies she knows and works with, it’s been negative.

Like a lot of knee-jerk, politically motivated major policy changes, it just alienated more people, peddled misinformation about the nature of many Indigenous people and did little to provide any help for the many deep rooted problems that these people face. There were lots of new blue signs though, on many of the roads leading in and out of town, detailing the perils of bringing in alcohol and pornography – pity most of the writing was so small you couldn’t read it from the car, and that many of the folks from the communities wouldn’t be able to read most of it anyway.

Long-term, patient projects that are based on listening and respect are sometimes hard to find, and don’t get talked about all that much anyway. A comforting thing is that there are many people, Indigenous and not, who do great work in communities to bring about positive change. If only they were given more support.

Still, Wednesday was one of those special days – a background of sadness, but an inkling of hope. Worth holding on to.